Storage question ...

[MattyP]

In my new Razr Maxx, while setting the phone up, so far I only have about 50 of my apps installed so far ...

In Settings > Storage > It tells me I have 16.00GB Total phone storage space on the phone, and available space in "Application storage" is only 2.47GB left??? How is this???

And what is the "Internal Media Storage"? That says I have 7.28GB Available space.

SD Card has 14.61GB Available space ...

This is much different than the former Droid 2 ...

Thanks for any help ... :hail:

 

[Ghostwheel]

To start with, you have two SD cards in the Maxx: the removable one, named "sdcard-ext", and the built-in one, named "sdcard". Each of those has 16G. Sdcard is further partitioned into two 8G areas: one for operating system stuff, and one for app storage.

 

[bsweetness]

To start with, you have two SD cards in the Maxx: the removable one, named "sdcard-ext", and the built-in one, named "sdcard". Each of those has 16G. Sdcard is further partitioned into two 8G areas: one for operating system stuff, and one for app storage.

Almost.

The internal 16GB of storage is actually partitioned into three areas: 1) Internal media storage (8GB), 2) Application storage (3GB), 3) OS storage that is not directly user accessible (around 4GB).

You can move application data from the Application storage partition to the Internal media storage partition natively in the OS, but not to the removable SD card. This is done in part to maintain app stability.

 

[Ghostwheel]

Oops, my bad. So here's another related question: when installing a new app, which card/partition does it default install to? And if it allows the "move to sd card" option, which card/partition does that move it to? This seemed a lot more straightforward on my D1...

 

[bsweetness]

Oops, my bad. So here's another related question: when installing a new app, which card/partition does it default install to? And if it allows the "move to sd card" option, which card/partition does that move it to? This seemed a lot more straightforward on my D1...

It defaults to the Application storage partition on the internal memory (which is only 3GB). If you go to move it, it actually doesn't give you the option to move it to the SD card. It says "Move to media area," which is the 8GB partition of the internal memory. Via the stock system, you can't move an app to the removable SD card. This is done to help with app stability and increase speed (both of which can be compromised if files are on the removable SD card). Motorola wants users to put their own files - music, movies, pictures, etc. - on the external SD card and not application files.

 

[Ghostwheel]

Got it. I think my confusion stemmed from the seemingly nebulous names given to the different areas. "Internal memory," "media area," "application storage," and /sdcard (which used to be the removeable card on older devices, but now isn't) don't give very good descriptions of just where something is or what it's for, IMO.

 

[bsweetness]

Got it. I think my confusion stemmed from the seemingly nebulous names given to the different areas. "Internal memory," "media area," "application storage," and /sdcard (which used to be the removeable card on older devices, but now isn't) don't give very good descriptions of just where something is or what it's for, IMO.

Agreed. They don't do a good job of explaining everything. And it's not the same across Android devices either. This is just how Motorola has chosen to partition things. You'll see a different set up on Samsung and HTC phones. I see the usefulness in not storing application data on the SD card, but they really need to explain everything better.

 

[94lt1]

I haven't even bothered to check, but in ics, do they do a better job of partitioning?

DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

 

[Ghostwheel]

I haven't even bothered to check, but in ics, do they do a better job of partitioning?

DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

Please, please, please tell me that ICS will not attempt to repartition anything...

 

[MattyP]

Thanks everyone for the info ... so when I USB cable my phone to my laptop, in my Control Panel it shows two extra drives... "Mot E" and "Mot F" ... any idea which one is which? So if I want to transfer pics or ringtones to the actual SD card ...

 

[bsweetness]

Thanks everyone for the info ... so when I USB cable my phone to my laptop, in my Control Panel it shows two extra drives... "Mot E" and "Mot F" ... any idea which one is which? So if I want to transfer pics or ringtones to the actual SD card ...

The "E" and "F" are the drive numbers assigned by your computer, so those will change from computer to computer and from person to person (for instance, mine assigns the two with "M" and "N"). On my computer, the internal storage is always assigned the the first letter alphabetically. But the easiest way to to tell is by the amount of storage. The internal storage will show up as having a total of 8GB exactly (and that's what the system refers to as the internal media area), while the actual SD card will show up at a total amount of storage that is slightly less than its stated capacity. I have a 64GB microSD card, and it shows the total capacity as being 59.4GB. So, the one that shows 8GB of total storage exactly is the internal storage. The other one, which will give a xx.xGB reading that is slightly below the stated capacity of the card, is the actual removable SD card.

 

[bsweetness]

I haven't even bothered to check, but in ics, do they do a better job of partitioning?

DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

I'm pretty sure things are partitioned in the same fashion. Changing the partitioning of the storage would require the internal storage on the phone to be completely wiped, and if Motorola did that, they'd have an uproar from the vast majority of phone users who don't want to lose everything when installing an update.

 

[94lt1]

I figured that much, I should've worded my question better..


I hope that the partitioning is done cleaner and is more self explanatory than it currently is ..

Sorry bsweetness
DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

 

[MattyP]

The "E" and "F" are the drive numbers assigned by your computer, so those will change from computer to computer and from person to person (for instance, mine assigns the two with "M" and "N"). On my computer, the internal storage is always assigned the the first letter alphabetically. But the easiest way to to tell is by the amount of storage. The internal storage will show up as having a total of 8GB exactly (and that's what the system refers to as the internal media area), while the actual SD card will show up at a total amount of storage that is slightly less than its stated capacity. I have a 64GB microSD card, and it shows the total capacity as being 59.4GB. So, the one that shows 8GB of total storage exactly is the internal storage. The other one, which will give a xx.xGB reading that is slightly below the stated capacity of the card, is the actual removable SD card.

Awesome ... thank you! ... "Liked" :hail: